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Los Angeles-based cosmic country rockers Beachwood Sparks are finishing up their second album, Once We Were Trees, to be released in September on Sub Pop Records.
"It's very much on the same track with what we've been doing, just more focused," says drummer Aaron Sperske of the album. "We've found a stream to flow down. I feel that it's similar to older bands, in the sense that their first two records are companion pieces -- like the first two Stooges albums, the first two Zeppelin albums . . . Our new record will be like side three and four of [2000's] Beachwood Sparks."
The band recorded the album at former Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis' home studio in Amherst, Massachusetts, with producer Thom Monahan (Lilys, Pernice Brothers). Mascis, who approached the band -- which also includes Chris Gunst (vocals/guitar), Dave Scher (slide guitar/keyboards) and Brent Rademaker (bass) -- after a gig in New York City, plays guitar on one track.
"It's all live takes, no headphones, you know," Sperske says of the recording. "Everything is real that you hear. There's no overdubs or studio trickery. No ProTools, no digital anything."
Aside from the original material, the sessions have yielded an unlikely cover of Sade's recent single, "By Your Side." "We just did it the way we heard it," says Sperske. "When we listened to it, we were like, 'God, this is such a great song. Wouldn't it be cool if we played it our way?'"
Beachwood Sparks will play a one-off gig with Grandaddy at New York's Irving Plaza on April 27th. Then they'll mix Once We Were Trees with producer Mike Deming at Studio 45 in Hartford, Connecticut.
JOHN D. LUERSSEN
(April 24, 2001)